Re: GG and recordings

[Michael Arnowitt <arnowitt@sover.net>]

>On Mon, 03 Jan 2000 22:14:03 -0700, you wrote:
>
>>Do you think Glenn would have made recordings if he didn't need to?  I
>>realize this is a poorly phrased question, but what I am getting at is
>>how much do you really think GG cared about those who listen(ed) to his
>>music?
>

As far as I know Gould tracked the reviews of his recordings and had the
usual musician's reactions to favorable and unfavorable comments, so I
suppose it's reasonable to conclude that he cared about the greater
community's reaction to his music-making...since as a control freak, he
certainly was capable of just not reading reviews, letters, etc. if he chose
to block out that aspect of his life.

On another level Gould frequently wrote about trying to make
record-listening a more active experience - giving the listener more options
to edit, arrange, select, etc.  So there's another reason to suppose Gould
did see his art as more than just self-expression.  In fact, in some of the
TV shows done about him he expresses some very interesting philosophical
thoughts on the bankruptcy of the traditional notions of there being some
sort of composer to performer to listener hierarchy ... he said that was
basically a modern (last few centuries) notion, and that he wanted to go
back to a medieval approach which was more community and spiritual-oriented. 

Michael